Pvt hospitals to upload data on free beds

To ensure private hospitals treat poor patients referred to them, the Delhi government has asked for a daily update on free beds. The data will be uploaded on the health department website.

Health Minister Kiran Walia called a high-level meeting of the directors of 35 private hospitals and asked them to treat people having a family income less than Rs 4,000 free.

“The 24-hour central cell will be instrumental in initiating information transfer between government hospitals and private hospitals. It is important for both the parties to know about bed availability before referring a patient,” said Walia, told HT after the two-hour meeting on Wednesday.

“We are planning to have a toll-free helpline number for information dissemination to the general public,” she said.

“We will also encourage government hospitals to refer poor patients to these private hospitals so as to offload their work,” said Walia.

Poor patients will now have to carry only a written declaration from a government doctor or an authorised body saying the family income is not over Rs. 4000 to avail free services.